Caretaker coach Howard Wilkinson admitted he felt "robbed" of victory in England's World Cup qualifier against Finland when Ray Parlour's late strike crossed the line but was ruled out.

Caretaker coach Howard Wilkinson admitted he felt "robbed" of victory in England's World Cup qualifier against Finland when Ray Parlour's late strike crossed the line but was ruled out.

However, after a poor display in Helsinki the national side still ended a four-day period, in which they had lost to Germany and coach Kevin Keegan had quit, the bottom team in qualifying group nine.

As they struggled to pick up their first point of the campaign with a goalless draw against Finland, Albania were beating Greece 2-0 and English football had reached a new low - bottom of the group behind even the Albanians.

Even though the Finns did not deserve to lose, they clearly benefited from two refereeing decisions that went against England. After just six minutes, Hearts keeper Antti Niemi was only booked despite bringing down Teddy Sheringham when he looked to be clear on goal.

And then Parlour's strike was ruled out with just three minutes left after hitting the crossbar as the French linesman - unlike the Russian official in the

1966 World Cup final - failed to spot that it had crossed the goal-line. Asked whether he felt robbed, Wilkinson replied: "Yes, I do, but that does not change anything and you have to be philosophical.

"I thought the ball had crossed the line, though, and so did the players.

Clearly they wanted a victory and they felt that they were denied one.

"From the referee's reaction to the early foul by Niemi on Sheringham, I first thought it would be a penalty and then that it would be a red card, so I was obviously surprised when he was booked."

Parlour, meanwhile, added: "I ran away celebrating as I thought the ball was over the line. I'm very disappointed for myself as it would have been my first England goal but also for the team."

Wilkinson admitted it would now be "difficult to qualify" for the 2002 World Cup finals, although he insisted that a draw in Finland was not the worst result imaginable given the chaotic build-up to the match and so many injuries in the England camp.

"If it had been the start of a World Cup campaign, rather than the second game, and given the events of last weekend, the number of drop-outs and the difficulties we've exper- ienced, I'd have been quite pleased," he said. "

Putting it in a league manager's terms, if you took over a team at the bottom of the league that is not used to winning and went away three days later and got a draw as well as a clean sheet, you are reasonably pleased."

Stressing he had no control over the defeat by Germany, he also pointed to other factors - the poor surface, the strong wind, Parlour's 'goal' and Niemi's yellow card as well as only three days to work with the players.

The fact remained, however, that it was another relatively dismal display by England and Wilkinson conceded that "two or three players had, by their standards, been below par".

Even though the side looked unlikely to score, he still refused to send on Michael Owen, while Sheringham looked angry at being replaced by Steve McManaman with around 20 minutes left.

Wilkinson, who would not discuss whether he was interested in the full-time England coach's job, said: "I was tempted to put Michael on.

"But I thought Gareth Barry, who is normally a centre-back, was struggling a bit at left-back at that point and that we also needed to get control of the game and to get the ball up to our front men more.

"So I put on a wide man in Steve McManaman and, knowing that Emile Heskey had a back problem, I couldn't risk putting Michael on as well and then going down to 10 men if Emile had to come off.

"Teddy had just been called back into the side, was made a pivotal figure in the team and was then taken off, so I wouldn't expect him to be happy.

"I took him off very reluctantly but when he was back in the dressing-room, with his blood pressure and pulse back to normal, he took it like a professional."

Wilkinson, who was exhausted after a frantic past four days, concluded: "The Under-21s scored a goal last Friday which was clearly over the line and wasn't given as well as getting the wrong guy sent off. In Finland, they had another one sent off and one with a broken nose. The 'goal' tonight puts a nice little frame around the picture that was painted last Saturday."

Parlour added: "It was a big disappointment when he (referee Alain Sars) waved 'play on'. I'm disappointed not only for myself, because it would have been my first England goal, but also for the team.

"It would probably almost certainly have given us victory because it came so close to the end of the match. We are so disappointed with the result. But the conditions were really, really difficult because of the wind and the pitch.

"I still feel we can qualify although we are not in an ideal position in the group now."

Sheringham insisted goalkeeper Niemi should have been dismissed.

He said: "I was surprised when the referee did not send their keeper off after he fouled me because I would have had a clear shot at goal with nobody behind him.

"It was surprising that he stayed on the pitch when you couldn't see any real reason why he should and it has become clear that Ray Parlour's shot was also over the line.

"I think you can say that luck did not go with us on those two occasions in the game."

Two games gone and not only have England failed to record a victory in World Cup qualifying group nine, they are actually anchored to the foot of the table.

Albania's unlikely 2-0 defeat of Greece in Tirana last night leaves the Football Association in the unenviable position of trying to persuade a new coach to take over a team two points adrift of mid-table obscurity.

The single point gleaned from last night's game in Helsinki at least gets England off the mark.

But they are now five points behind group favourites Germany and there are only six games to go.

If England are to avoid the lottery of a place in the play-offs, which they needed to reach Euro 2000, they will certainly have to beat the Germans in the repeat fixture next September.